Not My Crowd: What?

So ESPN spent the first five or ten minutes of College Football Live yesterday talking about how screwed Michigan was because "another player(!!!)" was leaving Michigan, never mind that Wermers' departure was officially announced two months ago. But you get a couple of quotes from a kid transferring into the MAC and the universe is ending.

I don't think it matters much in the grand scheme of things because only one thing—winning—matters much in the grand scheme of things. That does not mean it's not annoying as hell. The part that's still lodged in the ol' craw at the moment is that "not my crowd" statement. What crowd? By the time Wermers announced he'd transfer, the only Rodriguez recruits that had made it to campus were the guys he filled out Carr's last class with and the early-enrollers.

Who constitutes the infamous crowd here? We're looking for players that don't fit the profile of a typical Michigan recruit. So not these folks: Hill transferred after about two seconds, Omameh is an engineer, Shaw was a Penn State commit who Carr had offered, Roundtree was a Purdue commit,—both were teammates of Carr commit Brandon Moore—Campbell was basically a Carr recruit, Emilien is an honors student, and so are LaLota and Jones. Both of LaLota and Jones were picking between ND and Michigan.* And Forcier is the younger brother of a Carr recruit.

I really doubt there was any culture shock from the arrival of guys from Ohio and guys who strongly considered Notre Dame. That's been the pattern of the program for years.

The remainder: the Pahokee guys, Feagin, Barnum. And I guess Terrence Robinson. It's hard to interpret Wermers' "crowd" in a way that doesn't mean poor black kids from Florida, and I guess Terrence Robinson.

Which is all the long way of saying that 19 year olds should offer pat, positive answers and shut up, lest they say something that gives the wrong impression.

I don't think Brian meant that Wermers undoubtedly thinks that, just that there is no other logical conclusion to draw from it. Sure, he very well may have been making an excuse, but what He is saying (I think) is that Wermers should either STFU or, if he has to make up a bullshit excuse, make one without racial undertones.

While it's true that it does little good to pull out sociological theories to uncover any true meaning behind the words, I think they speak for themselves. While I wouldn't at all do him the discredit of saying it was a racial comment, I think we are on entirely solid ground to interpret it as a culture issue. And kids constantly make comments based on "social or location" background, or you've got a way different life experience than I do.

"We can't overestimate the value of computers: yes they are great for playing games and forwarding funny emails, but real business is done on paper. Write that down."

It was not the smartest thing for him to say, and I was a tad miffed when I heard it - far more disturbing than any comments about the 'family atmosphere' given that that is now such a buzzword. But, I'm willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt - it could have just been some throwaway comment without any racial, or otherwise prejudicial, intentions behind it. Best of luck to Kurt.

I don't lose any respect for guys who transfer out of Michigan; they are simply doing what they and their family thinks is best for them and their future. Anyone who calls these young men quitters or losers or turncoats or pussies is pretty cowardly. But this Wermers comment is annoying me. goblueLA, you might be right; I hope you're right. But someone, even a teenager, needs to know better than to say something publicly like this. Objectively, "not my kind of crowd" sounds prejudicial. And that is not cool. Like I said, I don't begrudge anyone who leaves, but if you leave and fling some vague, shitty, personalized detraction towards your now ex-teammates on your way out, I'm not so sure I will be rooting for you in your new digs.

I doubt his comment had anything to do with race. Because if Wermer's really doesn't want to be on a team with poor black kids, then I guess he's going to have to find a different sport.

I think it's more likely that he just didn't get along with some of the new recruits. Maybe some of them are just assholes. Being an engineer or an honor student doesn't mean that you can't be an asshole.

Everyone acts like he never met the new guys but wouldn't he have met them during offical visits? Sure, it was a stupid comment and not well thought out but then again he's still a kid. It just seems as though there's something there or we wouldn't be hearing things like this from players as they're leaving.

What gets lost in all of these transfers is where these kids are transfering to. If a guy transfers to the MAC and cries "family values" or " I didn't fit the system" I equate that to I wasn't going to play and didn't want to put in the work and ride the bench. Guys like Threet/Clemons/Mallet who transfer to other BCS schools I don't have a problem with because they clearly have the talent to play at top level schools, they just didn't fit in with the new philosophy.

Boren is different for obviously reasons. But I think in each case you need to look at the player and look at the school he is going to to. McGuffie is a great example. He was homesick so he transfered to a school closer to home. I have no beef with that. But if you are clearly transfering to a lower level school, it's not hard to see the real reason.

It was especially easy to be OK with Guff -- we knew it wasn't because of not putting in the work or anything like that, the guy started the opener as a true freshman. Obviously the coaches were impressed with his talent and his work in practice. The guy took a royal beating on the field for our team too. I hope he recovers well and rips things up for Rice. As long as we don't play them, of course.

Can't blame Threet either, he played hurt repeatedly and did the best he could. Selfishly I think we all would have liked him to stay because of our QB depth, but I don't blame him at all, he saw the writing on the wall and I imagine he feels ASU's system gives him a better chance to succeed. He doesn't owe us anything after playing with his injuries and trying to play the end of the Purdue game with a concussion. I hope he gets to start and that he burns USC one of these next few years.

It really isn't that hard to just say "it didn't work out/the system wasn't for me/(insert other non-descript reason for leaving)" instead of taking shots on the way out.

The whole thing boils down to a kid who was trying to cover up the fact that he quit something, just like Boren. Sure, they can argue that it wasn't about "couldn't hack it', it was about 'didn't fit in the new system', but the reality is: 'not fitting in' still falls under 'couldn't hack it'.

At their core, every competitive athlete knows it, "You walk away, you quit" no matter what the playing field is. You may prove yourself again somewhere else, but on that day, you failed/lost/quit... It is a hard thing to live with, and a harder thing to answer questions about. So Wermers decides to weasel out by questioning the program... so that people will stop questioning him.

I agree with you and I have personal experience to back up my opinion. I played college football and after 3 years I walked away...I quit. It was really hard but eventually I accepted the fact I wasn't quite good enough to play at that level and was happy I at least gave it a shot. I wish more players would just man up when they leave.

But it's pretty subjective. You cannot say with certainty that in his own mind, it wasn't the new players. Regarding his other comments about it being a business, and a different ballgame under Carr etc.. I sort of agree.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending him at all. My whole point would be for him to keep his mouth shut, and have some goddamn self-respect/honor/Integrity/whatever.

Edit: I didn't dock you that point either, it was like that I swear. Srsly. ;)

I hate the whole "he's just a kid" excuse when talking about players. Sure if the kid is under 18 or still in high school I feel it's premature to talk about them good or bad. But if you are legally able to vote and serve in the military then I feel you should be held to a higher standard and should not be free of critism or public scrutiny.

Wermers "different crowd" comment was wrong and as such he should be criticized for it and should not be given a free pass because "he is just a kid". IMO he is an adult and should know better.

I would say making posts that implied Wermers didn't work hard, was fat & out of shape or was lazy would constitute insulting comments with little evidence to back up such claims. These types of posts can be found on several different Michigan message boards on the interwebs.

I'll give you the "fat" comments. But for the other examples, "not my kind of crowd" almost implies the same thing, Jay. Unless he's a racist (doubtful), then the "not my kind of crowd" was just a statement that said "I don't want to work for my spot on the team" or "I'm not motivated enough" or whatever.

Can that be interpreted any other way? Wermers himself opened the door on this criticism, so I'm not sure I see how it's unfair to turn his own words around on him.

His "not my kind of crowd" comment was explicitly directed to his teammates, NOT the coaching staff. So...what do you think he meant by that?

There really isn't a good way to explain the "not my kind of crowd" comment. If there is, I'd love to hear it.

It would be one thing if he had just said something vague like "it wasn't a good fit and it didn't work out for either me or the team." But, again, that's not what he said, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.

...we could construe it to mean, "people that care waaaaaaaaaaaaay more about football than school." Problem is, when you heave that out there, it looks pretty bad on its own. Other problem is that there's no evidence that any of those guys are blowing off school.

Out of curiosity, why do you that would be doubtful? I think most people (regardless of skin color) are racist to some degree - although most of us are at least able to suppress/compartmentalize our racist instincts when in the presence of people of other backgrounds.

I disagree. Racist means you feel another race is inferior. I think you are confusing racism with noticing race. We all notice race. Sometimes I feel guilty if I notice race to readily, but I have never thought for a second that person of another race is inferior. And I don't think most people on this board do either.

It's possible that Wermers is a racist, just like it's possible that you and I are also racists. But I doubt that Wermers is racist simply because the sport of football is, from the peewee level on up, very diverse. So if Wermers was uncomfortable around non-whites, he would have exited and found another sport a long time ago.

This is my take on the statement "Not My Kind of Crowd":
He is under-competitive/not cut out for a top tier program and didn't want to compete with very talented linemen that want to work really hard and be really good at football. Makes him sound like an entitled whiny rich kid from a wealthy white suburb to me.

Well said, Brian. I still think it all boils down to kids who don't want to rip out their spleens to win. Might that not encompass the great majority of transfers to date?

The merit of spleen-ripping dedication as a prerequisite to playing collegiate athletics is another debate. Even if we could marshall an argument in favor of a Chariots of Fire flavor to the collegiate althletics, I think we'll be damn happy down the road when we see Buckeyes buried under a mountain of spleens.

If you have something you only want to share with Brian, fine. Clearly you did, so you emailed him. Do you really have to remind him to check his email?

If you have something you want to share with everybody, then share it. Don't play the stupid, "Oh my goodness guys don't ask me about my day because it was absolutely awful and I don't want to talk about it but I guess if you're going to push I can give you a hint as to what happened ok you convinced me this is why my life sucks" game.

I hadn't come across the insinuation that some new players on the team are thieves. Wonderful. Once this notion gets established in the blogosphere, it'll be virtually impossible to erase, like allegations of wife-beating. The insidious thing is that it can very easily create a kernel of doubt in people, esp. if it involves poor minority kids from another part of the country.